1981 stoush was ‘worth it’
Search on for women who made employment history in Levin
Jobless and unpaid, the largely female workforce of the closed Rixen clothing factory in Levin refused to give in without a fight for redundancy.
Dozens of them occupied the building for some 13 weeks, brought food and basic sustenance by their families, supporters, and the Clothing Workers Union.
Their experience was captured in the film Even Dogs Are Given Bones, which has been rescued, digitised and will be screened at the Beehive in September as part of women’s suffrage commemorations.
One of those workers, who wanted to be identified only as Wendy, said after the 1981 stoush, the women ‘‘just got on with our lives’’.
Her clearest memory was passing her 3-year-old daughter out the toilet window.
‘‘We were told the police were coming to get us out. I rang my brother to come and get my daughter. We passed her out the toilet window so we did not have to open the door.’’
The police came, but there was no eviction.
Wendy said many of the women had children with them during the occupation. They could not afford childcare.
The struggle petered out as Christmas approached. There was still no redundancy payout for the protesters, but a redundancy clause was written into the Clothing Workers’ Union award.
‘‘It was one of the first times anyone had done anything like that, and it was worth it.
‘‘Ever since, I have always belonged to a union. They backed us, and I support what they stand for in promoting fairness in wages and conditions.’’
Wendy later benefited from their achievement when she was made redundant from another factory job.
Film director Kanya Stewart said it had been fascinating to film and interview women standing up for their rights.
‘‘It was awful how they were treated, just told to leave.’’
The film captured their experience, living in the factory, and the issues they talked about.
They slept on the cutting room tables, looked after each other, and spoke openly about work, money, the good and often the bad about home life, and the challenges of childcare.
‘‘And it’s still important. Women are still getting lousy wages.’’
‘‘It was awful how they were treated, just told to leave. And it’s still important. Women are still getting lousy wages.’’ Kanya Stewart film director
Stewart said the film had been used by unions in training, as a piece of industrial relations history, but had been rarely seen in public as the recording quality had not been sufficient for TV.
The stars of the film have dispersed, moved away, and Stewart would love to get them back together for the screening.
‘‘It’s like they are the women who were lost to history.’’
The film about them will screen alongside Minimum, a series about women who work in low-wage, precarious or under-appreciated jobs in New Zealand.
It is part of #directedbywomen #aotearoa’s Suffrage125 programme, and part of the global Directed By Women annual event.
Organiser Marian Evans is keen to track down the Horowhenua women and invite them to the function, and has provided some screenshots in the hope they will recognise themselves, or someone else will, and they will get in touch.